The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and CDI Systems have partnered to bring NetIS™ technology into the institute’s growing digital library and global readership.

The first publication will be the Institute’s Journal of Levantine Studies (JLS), an interdisciplinary academic journal published biannually in English. Dedicated to the critical study of the social, political and cultural settings which, in various periods of history, have been known as the Levant, JLS is a new platform for theoretical and empirical scholarship, discussion and debate on the Levant and Levantines.

The notion of the “Levant” has evolved in usage, meaning, and understanding through-out history. In the past two centuries, the term developed alongside colonial practices and Eurocentric attitudes, and the notion gradually acquired derogatory connotations in both its everyday and academic usage. Intellectuals and social thinkers from the region itself began to renounce the term while simultaneously embracing and rejecting western prejudices and in an effort to avoid identification with larger regional units, which stood in direct contradiction with twentieth-century attempts to build nation-states. Meanwhile, in academia the term has been largely relegated and confined to the fields of archaeology and literature.

JLS aims to reclaim the notion of the Levant as a historical and political concept and as a category of identity and classification. The Editorial Board welcomes scholarly debate on both the symbolic and theoretical significance of the Levant as well as on the political, social, and cultural manifestations of reality for the people of the region.

“We were looking for a solution such as NetIS,” said Dr. Tal Kohavi, Director of Publications and Executive Editorat the VLJI. “We quickly understood that NetIS is the only e-publishing platform that puts all of our needs under one roof. Being able to support a strong Digital Rights Management system coupled with an easy-to-use eCommerce platform and yet at the same time generate top SEO ratings is nowhere to be found in this market except with NetIS.”

“We are honored to be able to work with a worldwide recognized institution such as the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute,” said CDI’s CEO, Itzhak Levit, “Our NetIS platform is an enabling technology designed exactly for clients like this who are academic based with a vast library looking for ways to both protect, distribute and monetize their assets over the Internet.”

About CDI Systems and NetIS™ e-Publishing Platform

CDI Systems is a private high-tech company founded in 1992, headquartered in Jerusalem, Israel. CDI focuses on the development of a unique and innovative online publishing platform - NetIS™, the company has successfully deployed scores of solutions for the Internet, Intranet, Mobile Internet, DVD/CD-ROMs, tablets and eReader devices.

Deployments range from global giants such as Dun & Bradstreet from Japan to the United States, government contracts, the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & Healthcare (EDQM), to publishing houses. Please visit www.cdisys.com to learn more.

The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute is a leading intellectual center for the interdisciplinary study and discussion of issues related to philosophy, society, culture and education. The Institute gives expression to the wide range of opinions in Israel, and takes particular pride in its role as an incubator and creative home for many of the most important civil society efforts to enhance and deepen Israeli democracy.